{"id":235286,"date":"2026-07-04T07:43:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235286\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T07:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:43:06","slug":"brutal-heat-forces-steelstacks-events-indoors-for-world-cup-americas-250th-kickoff-bethlehem-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235286\/","title":{"rendered":"Brutal heat forces SteelStacks events indoors for World Cup, America’s 250th kickoff | Bethlehem Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Many around the country are preparing for a huge weekend ahead, between our country’s big birthday and the World Cup. On Friday some were trying to make the most of local events, despite the extreme heat.<\/p>\n

“Live and die for f\u00fatbol, our f\u00fatbol, not soccer here,” Adam Alsaad, a Portugal fan, said.<\/p>\n

Alsaad was watching Egypt face Australia from SteelStacks’ outdoor big screen on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

As World Cup weekend kicked off Friday, Erik Betlaf was watching from a much cooler, indoor screen inside the nearby ArtsQuest building.<\/p>\n

“I’m actually a huge soccer fan,” he said. “To see the sport grow over here in this country is amazing.”<\/p>\n

And what better place to watch than at SteelStacks in Bethlehem?<\/p>\n

“We just heard it’s a lot of excitement, very busy, a lot of food,” Patrick Kinek, from Northampton, checking out the game with his girlfriend, Lindsey Peniston, said.<\/p>\n

But Friday afternoon, die-hard fans for both Australia and Egypt couldn’t help but feel the heat \u2014 and we’re not just talking about the competition.<\/p>\n

“It’s too hot in here,” 13-year-old Egypt fan Moustafa Elsayed said.<\/p>\n

Moustafa was watching outside in the scorching heat with his mother and 11-year-old brother, Moaz.<\/p>\n

ArtsQuest’s big free events \u2014 celebrating the World Cup and America’s birthday<\/a> and the fact that it’s America’s 250th birthday \u2014 were all adjusted for the day’s extreme heat.<\/p>\n

Cory Stevens, Executive Director of Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and Volunteer Program Manager for ArtsQuest, explained changes made to the events due to the brutal heat.<\/p>\n

“Today our headliner is U.S. Army Field Band,” Stevens said. “Forty serving, active members of the U.S. Army, and they do orchestral marches and travel with a choir. It’s very cool.”<\/p>\n

The band was moved inside to the third floor of the ArtsQuest building, and other outdoor shows were canceled for Friday.<\/p>\n

“Just because the heat is over 100 degrees with real feel more like 110 degrees,” Stevens said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some continued braving it out, outdoors.<\/p>\n

“Anything for the World Cup,” Moustafa said, adding his family would move indoors during halftime.<\/p>\n

“Honest to God,” Alsaad said, “since the World Cup started, I didn’t miss any games, like finishing work, immediately coming here.”<\/p>\n

The United States Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus<\/a> will perform at the ArtsQuest building at SteelStacks Friday at 7:30 p.m..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Many around the country are preparing for a huge weekend ahead, between our country’s big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-235286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}